Question: What is the meaning of the verse, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh” (Genesis 2:24)?

Answer: A mother symbolizes the female desire, the desire to receive, which is a deficiency of spirituality. And his wife symbolizes the next level of this desire. Later, a male becomes detached from his mother, like a little child, and adheres to a greater desire, which is called his wife. Therefore it is said, “in all that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice” (Genesis 21:12).[196682]From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 6/9/16

Question: Why has the Creator, who is just and who wants to give us pleasure, created an unjust world where people suffer throughout history because of their egoism, which was also created by the Creator? How can we explain the fact that instead of pleasure there have been only wars, pain, and suffering for thousands of years?

Answer: It is impossible to bring man who is an egoist to the right altruistic intention without such shocks.

A person was created egoistically so as not to invoke the mutual destruction of pleasure and of the desire. If I eat something tasty, for example, I enjoy the taste and then after a while the taste becomes duller. I will cease to feel pleasure and the desire is exhausted and disappears because it is gradually filled by the pleasure.

How can we reach a state in which the desire keeps growing and accordingly the pleasure is felt increasingly more strongly?

In order to do so we have to create a certain device, like a resistor between a plus and minus, which will not enable the desire and the pleasure to connect directly and thus create a short circuit but which will process both the desire and the pleasure into a special energy.

The ego, which the Creator develops in us, is the minus. The Upper Light, which we feel as pleasure, which also comes from the Creator, is the plus. And between them is the soul—that is us.

This is how we operate. So we have to do our best in order to feel the ego that appears in us as negative and the Light as positive.

When we feel the gap between them and want them to exist together, we will be able to develop the state called soul inside us, the middle line, that we build and create ourselves.[196692]From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 8/28/16

Question: What does the wisdom of Kabbalah say about how we should work with our pleasure and our desire so that one will not extinguish the other?

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah tells us how we should act with the intention of in order to bestow unto others and not for our own sake, which means that I enjoy the fact that I bring others pleasure. “Others” is an enormous infinite desire that is external to me. If I convey the pleasure that fills them through me, this pleasure flows through me and fills me, but doesn’t extinguish the desire because it has to be passed on to them. Thus, we can say that between me and the pleasure there is another person. I, as the upper Partzuf in Kabbalistic terms, take the pleasure and pass it on to another. If people are together in one network and receive from each other in order to pass it on to each other, they simultaneously receive everything and convey everything and thus are in an infinite, eternal flow of absolute pleasure.

This is the formula of eternal pleasure—to enjoy for the sake of another. It is absolutely logical and we can actually understand it, but we have to fulfill it so that it will work.

Question: Can we illustrate this idea by examples from our world?

Answer: It is impossible to bring examples to someone who doesn’t distinguish between the attributes of bestowal and receiving. We can only see these attributes inside us. It isn’t concealed, but it depends on the intensity of the general desire of humanity, which doesn’t feel the real need for and isn’t ready yet to acquire the perfect eternal pleasure through bestowal. There are very few people who want to learn to bestow. It is a way to receive enormous pleasure.[196570]From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 8/28/16

Question: In what way is the development of the soul different from the creation of a fantasy, and how can I check if I am on the right path?

Answer: Development of the soul happens within a very narrow and precise framework, when a person is included in a group and begins to develop the characteristic of bestowal along with the members of the group until reaching the characteristic of love. His involvement with this develops the soul. A soul cannot exist in one person, only in a collection of people.

The most optimal situation is when ten people gather and through the correct use of the ego, between themselves they begin to build over-egoistic properties of connection above it. I emphasize: over-egoistic that is the opposite of egoism by using it in the opposite direction.

When they use it this way, in the opposite direction, a very interesting phenomenon happens among them. To the extent of their effort, not through suppression of the ego but through using it correctly, they create a property of love and connection above it.

They begin to feel that they lack the power that will help them rise above the egoism and use it correctly. They get this power from the depths of creation. In the unity between them, they suddenly discover a force in the center of the connection between them, like a whirlpool begins to be disclosed between them. But it doesn’t draw inward, instead it emits outwardly, and the Upper Light, the power of bestowal, reciprocal connection, love, goodness, and cooperation rise up from there.

When that force completes the correct connection between them and fills them, then the common state they attain is called a soul.[195470]From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 6/9/16

New Life #398 – The Influence Of Exercise On Emotional Wellbeing
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Summary

Why does a person need to exercise to feel good and how does it help in creating connections between people? Exercise causes the secretion of substances and this makes us feel better. Activity can help mental, psychological, and even psychiatric problems.

Our body belongs to the animal world. It requires movement. Exercise relieves stress. Children constantly need to move, while adults are weighed down. In general, women move more than men. When our brain has a more rapid turnover of materials, emotional states are also changed.

It would be worthwhile to establish a social norm and example of daily exercise. This would make it easier for everyone. In the East, they begin the day with yoga, Tai Chi, and things like that. Every pose contributes to inner balance. Each nation has exercises that are appropriate for it. In the East it is yoga and so forth. In England there is soccer and boxing. Humans are systems built from many linked strata.

Therefore, physical activity has a mental influence. Physical activity contributes to relationships. It relieves stress and brings people closer.From KabTV’s “New Life #398 – The Influence Of Exercise On Emotional Well Being,” 6/8/14